This invention relates generally to a mechanism for adjusting the azimuth of a magnetic head used in a tape recorder or the like.
Azimuth adjusting mechanisms are widely employed in magnetic head supporting mechanisms of tape recorders, players or the like used for recording and/or reproducing audio signals, digital data or the like so that the atitute of the head is corrected such that the head gap thereof has a predetermined angle, such as 90 degrees, with respect to the longitudinal direction of a track or tracks on a magnetic recording tape. The azimuth adjusting mechanisms are adjusted when manufacturing tape recorders or the like to remove variations in azimuth throughout a number of products. Furthermore, in some studio use tape recorders, azimuth adjustment is effected occationary for deriving maximum output from a reproduce head by making the azimuth thereof equal to that of a record head.
Some conventional azimuth adjusting mechanisms, however, require a relatively large number of parts, such as screws, coil springs or the like, and therefore, it is troublesome and time consuming to manufacture such mechanisms. Although some other conventional azimuth adjusting mechanism include less number of parts, they suffer from a problem that a base plate carrying a magnetic head thereon is apt to incline in undesirable directions when an adjusting screw is screwed or loosened. Namely, in such conventional mechansims, the base plate is apt to inline so that the plane of the base plate is not normal to the plane of the magenetic recording tape. Since the magnetic head is fixedly attached to the base plate, the tape-contact surface of the head cannot be in complete contact with the tape surface, deteriorating recording and/or reproducing effciency and high-frequency response. In the case that the tape-contact surface of the magnetic head is inclined to a great extent, magnetic recording/reproducing would be difficult with respect to some tracks in the case of a multi-track head. In this way such an undesirable inclination of the magnetic head may result in unstable recording and/or reproducing.